Kid Genealogists: Inspiring the Next Generation

Class Webpage

Originally presented at RootsTech 2017

Saturday, February 11, 3pm

Session number: RT8918 RootsTech Track

Hi, Nicole here. I’m teaming up with Melissa Finlay of Finlayfamily.org and Emily Schroeder of Growing Little Leaves to speak at RootsTech on Saturday, February 11, 2017. We are looking forward to sharing our ideas about teaching family history to children. You can download our syllabus here: Kid Genealogists – Inspiring the Next Generation Syllabus RootsTech 2017. In addition to this four page syllabus,  we have compiled a list of bonus material and links here at our class webpage.

Engaging Children in Learning Family History

To truly inspire the younger generation of genealogists, it’s crucial to keep them engaged. According to education experts, student engagement occurs when children are behaviorally, emotionally, and cognitively involved in learning. Making the learning meaningful is especially important. When introducing a new concept, we can make it meaningful by relating the new concept to a child’s current knowledge, interests, and experiences.

To read more about strategies for student engagement, check out these articles:

3 Keys That Unlock the Door to Student Engagement

Golden Rules for Engaging Students

Encouraging Positive Student Engagement and Motivation: Tips for Teachers

To make family history meaningful, we can incorporate it into pastimes that children already enjoy.  Children love stories, projects and activities, and playing. We’ll share several ideas for teaching children family history in these three categories.

Stories

Creating Kid-Friendly Ancestor Storybooks

Make Your Family History Book Kid-Friendly

Make An Illustrated Storybook of Ancestors

Illustrating Family Stories with StoryBoard That

Using Heirlooms to Teach Family History and Traditions

What Is An Heirloom?

Introducing Old Technology

Book Review: The Keeping Quilt and The Blessing Cup

Worksheets:

Heirloom Documentation

What will you pass on?

Heirloom roleplay activity

Multimedia Family History Storytelling

Family Story Minute Tutorial: Make a Short Family History Video Story

Join Me for #FamilyStoryMinute

Projects

Family Photo Coloring Pages

Instructable for making a coloring page/book with Pixlr

Creating Family Photo Coloring Pages with BeFunky – including their free mobile app

Family History Coloring Books with ReallyColor – purchase coloring pages and coloring books

Ancestor Coloring Page – using Picasa to create your own coloring pages

Celebrating Irish Heritage on St. Patrick’s Day – I didn’t have any photos of my Irish ancestors so I used StoryboardThat.com to make coloring pages with their historical characters and clipart

Hands-On Timelines

Ancestor Cup Timeline

Personal History Roadtrip

The Shoe Box Timeline

Making History Personal by Incorporating Family History

School+Genealogy= History Becomes Personal

School+Genealogy: Our Civil War Ancestors

School+Genealogy: Immigration

Playing

Role Play and Pretend Play

Learning About The Census

Ancestor Puppet Theater

Little Family Tree App

Little Family Tree App Website

Family Map Game

Teaching Family History with the Family Map Game – how to create a family map game

Where In The World? Family History Game by Sheena at Little LDS Ideas – includes links to printable maps and question card template

Guide for Creating Questions for your Family Map Game – click to download document

National Standards for Social Studies Teachers (United States) – use these social studies standards to help you create map game questions that align with the goals of children’s classes at school.

Additional Genealogy Games

Playing the Genealogy Board Game – What Fun! (Lorine McGinnis Schulze, Olive Tree Genealogy)

I Spy With My Genealogy Eye… – Name that Ancestor (Lorine McGinnis Schulze, Olive Tree Genealogy)

Family History Bingo (Taralynn, Keep Moving Forward With Me)

More game ideas (and other fun ideas) here:

 Web Index of Family History Ideas for Children and Teens